October 2015

Featured articles:

BEPS Actions and indirect tax: On Thursday, 8 October 2015, the G20 finance ministers met in Lima to endorse the final package of measures outlining consensus Actions under the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, which was published by the OECD Secretariat ahead of the G20 meeting.

Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: On 5 October 2015, negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement were successfully concluded.

AANZFTA: Member countries have agreed to amend the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area to improve its transparency and administrative efficiency.

Singapore-European Union: The European Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) negotiations were concluded on 16 December 2012. The initial expectation was for the EUSFTA to enter into force by the end of 2015. This is now expected to be delayed beyond 2016.

Singapore-Turkey: The negotiations for the Turkey-Singapore Free Trade Agreement were concluded on 6 October 2015.

South Korea-India: On 8 October 2015, Korea and India signed a Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Authorized Economic Operator.

EMEA

European Union: The European Commission VAT Expert Group (VEG) met on 7 September and has released the agenda and papers from that meeting.

European Union: The European Commission has launched a consultation about ways to simplify the VAT payment regime for cross-border e-commerce transactions in the EU.

Denmark: A new draft binding instruction has been issued on input VAT deductibility for holding companies.

Denmark: A new binding instruction has been issued on the VAT treatment of sales of long-term courses to foreign companies.

Finland: Supreme Administrative Court rulings on the right to deduct input VAT on due diligence costs related to the acquisition of a subsidiary.

Greece: The first phase has commenced of the abolition of the special VAT rates that apply on Greek islands.

Italy: There are changes expected to the credit note rules.

Italy: New guidelines regarding VAT refund procedures and exoneration from the submission of guarantees.

Italy: There has been a Supreme Court decision that omitting to account for purchase invoices does not affect the right to deduct VAT.

Italy: There has been a Supreme Court decision that the holding of a customer’s EU VAT number is a mere formal requirement for intra-Community supplies.

Italy: There are amendments to the VAT penalties regime.

Italy: There is news regarding AEO.

Italy: Customs has issued a note regarding the 'abuse of right'.

Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan accession to the World Trade Organization.

Kazakhstan: There is a ban on the export of selected goods.

Kazakhstan: An order of the Ministry of Finance has approved a list of documents used to allow the deferral or installment payment of customs duties.

Kazakhstan: Rules have been established for customs operations during customs declaration and issuing goods before customs declaration.

Kazakhstan: Rules have been approved for issuing permits to process products outside of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan: The list of imported goods on which VAT is paid according to the offset method has been amended and supplemented.

Portugal: Services provided through online banking are included under the scope of 'electronic services' for VAT purposes.

Portugal: There has been a Supreme Administrative Court decision on the deduction of input VAT incurred on the purchase of goods and services for the construction of immovable property.

Portugal: The tax authorities have confirmed their understanding of the VAT treatment of single-purpose vouchers.

Portugal: New templates for invoices, etc have been approved for self-employed workers.

Russia: The tax policy guidelines for 2016-2018 have been published.

Russia: There is a new list of medical goods the import of which into Russia and the supply of which on Russian territory is exempt from VAT.

Russia: There may be amendments to the calculation of VAT on the receipt of insurance payments on business risk insurance agreements.

Russia: The Ministry of Finance has released letters relating to:

VAT with respect to the transfer of goods based on damage complaint reports;

VAT on advertising services rendered to a foreign organization with a bank account in the Russian Federation;

The period for an export VAT claim;

VAT recovery when selling uncompleted housing;

VAT on customs clearance services;

The procedure to reverse VAT claimed for recovery from prepaid amounts if the supplier fails to deliver the goods ordered;

VAT on the transfer of rights to publish books and magazines from a foreign entity to a Russian organization under a license agreement;

VAT agents' obligations when acquiring services from a foreign entity where the place of supply is Russia.

Russia: The Supreme Court has ruled on the application of VAT with respect to the transfer of immovable property as dividend payments.

Russia: The Supreme Court has ruled on the application of VAT with respect to passenger, cargo and baggage services in airports.

Russia: The Supreme Court has ruled on the application of VAT on the provision of passenger seats by codeshare agreements with foreign airlines.

Russia: The Supreme Court has ruled on the application of VAT on sales of additional functions in online games.

Russia: It has been reported that a new service is available on the official website of the Russian Federal Tax Service for checking the accuracy of VAT invoices.

Russia: A new VAT return form may come into force in January 2016.

Russia: A letter of the Russian Ministry of Finance has notified that the VAT calculated by a taxpayer due to the failure to confirm its right to the 0% rate on export goods may be deducted as other costs for tax purposes.

Russia: There has been a decrease in the rates of export customs duties in accordance with Russia’s WTO obligations.

Russia: The list of countries subject to the food embargo and destruction of prohibited agricultural products has been expanded.

Russia: A letter of the Federal Tax Service has set out the procedure to file e-documents.

Russia: A letter of the Federal Tax Service has notified that the functionality of its website has been extended to allow the submission of tax and accounting reports certified by a digital signature to the tax authorities, with VAT declaration being the only exception.

Russia: The scope of the activities of the Federal Tax Service single contact center has been extended.

Russia: There is a new interactive service for information on trade duty payers in Moscow.

Serbia: Substantial changes were made to the Serbian VAT Law, most of which will apply from 15 October 2015. The main changes relate to the VAT registration of foreign entities and the application of the reverse charge to supplies of electricity and natural gas intended for further sale.

Ukraine: The special duties on imported passenger cars have been cancelled

Ukraine: There have been changes to the sanitary and phytosanitary controls for foodstuffs.

Ukraine: The alcohol beverages importation procedure has been simplified.

Ukraine: There have been changes in the procedure for customs value verification.

United Kingdom: The tax authorities have announced that the opening of the on-line registration system for the Alcohol Wholesalers Registration Scheme has been postponed.

United Kingdom: The tax authorities have issued further guidance on the recovery of VAT on pension scheme costs.

European Union-Singapore: The European Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) negotiations were concluded on 16 December 2012.

Turkey-Singapore: The negotiations for the Turkey-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (TRSFTA) were concluded on 6 October 2015.